Letter from Edward J. Pringle to Rose Greenhow Concerning James Buchanan and John Charles Fremont
11/5/1856
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Rose Greenhow received this letter sharing the news that California had voted for Democrat James Buchanan in the 1856 Presidential election. The author, Edward Pringle, celebrated the defeat of John C. Fremont and expressed his desire that the "bug bear of Black Republicanism" – Republicans who were sympathetic to the abolitionist movement – would end. Pringle was a friend and attorney for Greenhow; he resided in California but had Southern roots and sympathies.
Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a popular socialite in Washington, DC. During the Civil War, she became a spy for the Confederacy. She wrote ciphered messages (in secret code) to the Confederates and provided information about Union military plans.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis credited her with helping the South win the First Battle of Bull Run. Greenhow provided a message about the Union troop's movements in time for Brigadier Generals Beauregard and Johnston to meet at Manassas, Virginia. A young woman working with Greenhow named Betty Duvall carried the message wrapped in a tiny black silk purse and wound up in a bun of her hair.
Head of U.S. Intelligence Service Allan Pinkerton observed Rose Greenhow as part of his counterintelligence activities and found sufficient evidence to place her under house arrest. Greenhow claimed she knew she was under surveillance but had defiantly continued her spying activities. Pinkerton and his men searched Greenhow's home and seized documents including letters, maps, notes, ciphered messages, and burnt papers that Rose had tried to destroy in her stove.
After a period under house arrest, Greenhow was transferred to Old Capitol Prison where she continued to send encoded messages and collect secret information. After her hearing, she was deported to Richmond, Virginia, in May 1862. Jefferson Davis sent her on a diplomatic mission to Europe in 1863. On her return trip to the South on October 1, 1864, the blockade runner the Condor encountered Northern forces and ran aground. Rose Greenhow tried to escape in a rowboat, but it turned over and she drowned.
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San Francisco Nov 5 - 1856
Mrs. R. O'Neal Greenhow --
Brown's Hotel Washington D.C.
My dear Mrs. Greenhow
I suppose we may say Hurrah! for Buchanan! for we send him without doubt the vote of California - and the same influences that have given him this state must have given him a handsome vote at the East - So ends I hope this bug bear of Black Republicanism - and our South Carolina upstart returned to his original obscurity. But he has given us a fright out here. In this County the vigilantes and the Black Republicans united upon the local ticket, and have turned out all the Democrats from the City & County offices.
I enclose original of Tallant & Wilde upon [illegible] & Co of Nov 5 1856 for $61.75 No 358 being $45 dividends of Plank Road shares and $18.60 Interest on $9.30 for one month at .02. Duplicate by next steamer.
I hope you will not forget to enlighten me sometimes upon passing events in the world - As yet I have not heard of your arrival - But I hope you got home safely and found your family all well -
I am very truly Yours
Edward J. Pringle
E. J. Pringle
San Francisco
5 Nov. 1856
Hurray! for Buchanan - hopes "our South Carolina upstart" (J.C.F.) will now hide himself in obscurity.This primary source comes from the General Records of the Department of State.
National Archives Identifier:
1634104Full Citation: Letter from Edward J. Pringle to Rose Greenhow Concerning James Buchanan and John Charles Fremont; 11/5/1856; Letters and Notes from Edward J. Pringle to Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow; Seized Correspondence of Rose O'Neal Greenhow, 8/23/1861 - 8/23/1861; General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/pringle-greenhow-buchanan-fremont, April 19, 2024]